Dale Earnhardt Jr. confounded by Talladega track he once dominated

1:15 AM,
Oct. 19, 2013

Written by

Jeff Gluck
| USA TODAY Sports

At Talladega Superspeedway, the capital of Junior Nation, there are times when Dale Earnhardt Jr. swears he can hear the fans over the roar of the crowd.

"Most of the time you can't, but you can definitely see it," Earnhardt said Friday. "After lap after lap of going by and seeing them sitting down, when you come by and they are standing up, it's obvious. You see the arms in the air and all that stuff."

Of course, the only times the Talladega grandstands erupt that way are when Earnhardt is leading the field. And that hasn't happened very much lately. ...